NYHW
Here is my PHIL101 paper with the following topic: In Meditation Two, Descartes concludes that "...it must finally be established that this pronouncement 'I am, I exist' is necessarily true every time I utter it or conceive it in my mind" (18). In no more than one page, what makes this pronouncement necessarily true and what exactly is it that can be said to exist?
Thinking is Believing
Descartes, in his quest for acknowledgement of truthful things, must first call into question every belief he has. This entails initially asserting that everything he senses is false, and in turn, absolutely nothing is certain until proven otherwise. He contemplates, “I have persuaded myself that there is absolutely nothing in the world… is it then the case that I too do not exist? But doubtless I did exist, if I persuaded myself of something” (18). This verifies his existence- that thought itself proves the thinker’s being. Descartes further develops this proof, “it must finally be established that this pronouncement ‘I am, I exist’ is necessarily true every time I utter it or conceive it in my mind” (18). Therefore, he certifies that thought alone determines one’s existence every time it is acknowledged. He hence believes that because he is aware of his own thought, he exists.
After separating the senses as deceitful, Descartes looks for what is truly constant. He realizes everything around us is not “perceived by the senses or by the faculty of imagination, but by the intellect alone, and that they are not perceived through their being touched or seen, but only through their being understood” (23). Thus, only our knowledge and thinking can establish something; senses and imagination cannot themselves discover something. He brings up wax as a model. The fact that we see a hard ball does not make it wax, our mind is what understands it is wax. Furthermore, that comprehension brings us closer to knowing our own being. Descartes believes, “there is not a single consideration that can aid in my perception of the wax or of any other body that fails to make even more manifest the nature of my mind” (23). By perceiving wax as wax, Descartes gains a stronger sense of himself because one has to exist if they perceive other bodies to exist.